GLOBAL food demand will double by 2050, according to a new projection, and the farming techniques used to meet that unprecedented demand will significantly determine how severe the impact is on the environment, researchers say. The study researchers warn that meeting the demand for food will clear more land, increase nitrogen use and significantly add ... Read more
Environment
Getting a consensus in COP 17
How close the world is? Shammunul Islam The 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 17) will be held in the city of Durban, South Africa from November 28 to December 9. The world is waiting with hope that this time a fruitful and effective guideline will be made towards mitigating and adapting ... Read more
Pollution of rivers around Dhaka
Increasing threats to life Mohammad Tareq Hasan With a population of over 15 million Dhaka is one of the most congested cities of the world. This rapidly growing city is located on the northern bank of the river Buriganga and surrounded by other rivers, namely, the Turag to the west, the Tongi Khal to the ... Read more
Tiger Conservation: Reality, recognition and rights
Dr. Mohammad Ali Tigers are maverick animals. They are supposed to live long in this world. Instead, they are disappearing rapidly. No doubt celebrating ‘tiger day’ will raise awareness to safeguard this majestic animal; however, we hope the affiliated institutions will continue creating a congenial environment for safety and sustainability of tiger population. Commonly such ... Read more
Flood: Some positive effects
Mohiuddin Zakaria Flood is overflow of huge amount of water on the normally dry land. The EU flood directive defines flood as ‘a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water’. In broader sense, flood can be classified in two types as: natural flood and catastrophic flood. Natural flood is the flood ... Read more
Birdwings enriching forest ecosystem
Dr. M A Bashar Ecosystem itself is the phenomenon of interaction between biotic and abiotic factors in an area. This interaction means both of the factors in an area of the biosphere are equally “interacted” to form and run the system. But apparently plants are the primary phase as producers and successive phases are completed ... Read more
Salvaging Dhaka
Md. Mahbubul Huq for The Daily Star The engine behind a city is, apparently, its mayor. He is the chief of local government administration. Local government administration is responsible for providing services such as: fire safety, police protection, any emergency services, public school, water and sewerage, city planning, maintaining local environmental health, garbage collection, public ... Read more
Evaluating services of Sundarbans
Muhammad Selim Hossain and Mohammed Abdul Baten for The Daily Star Forest is a bounteous gift of nature that provides the basis of life and livelihood for humans. According to human history, hunting and gathering, the first and foremost livelihood of homo sapiens, was forest based. Interestingly, mangrove is the most diverse forest and is ... Read more
Growth at the cost of environment?
Industrial Pollution Growth at the cost of environment? Md Koushik Ahmed for The Daily Star The “primitive accumulation” nature of developed countries to use all natural resources as inputs into a human devised system in the never ending quest for economic growth has led us to ask “what the future holds for us”. This growth ... Read more
‘Shocking’ state of oceans threatens mass extinction
Overfishing and pollution putting fish, sharks and whales in extreme danger – with extinction ‘inevitable’, study finds. Fish, sharks, whales and other marine species are in imminent danger of an “unprecedented” and catastrophic extinction event at the hands of humankind, and are disappearing at a far faster rate than anyone had predicted, a study of ... Read more
Honey collection and biodiversity loss in mangrove ecosystem
Dr. M.A. Bashar for The Independent In Sundarbans ecosystem, honey and wax production is a major seasonal activity employing some 2000 honey collectors known as ‘mowallis’ and producing about 200 tonnes of honey and about 50 tonnes of bee wax which constitutes about 50 per cent of the total production in Bangladesh. So far information is ... Read more
Forest: The one and only address of inhabitable world
Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman for The Daily Star Forest ecosystem provides benefits that support the livelihoods of countless human beings. Forests provide a number of components to the broad range of ecological services such as, regulation of rainfall and hydrological system; maintenance of soil quality, control of soil erosion, modulating climate; and being the habitat ... Read more
Impact on environment and health
Shipbreaking in South Asia Impact on environment and health Md. Abu Sayed Shipbreaking, referred to as ship recycling, is a type of ship disposal involving the dismantling of an obsolete vessel’s structure for scrapping or disposal. It includes a wide range of activities, from removing all gears and equipment to cutting down the ship’s infrastructure. ... Read more
Climate change and neglected tropical diseases
Khalid Md. Bahauddin Recent investigations attribute more than 150,000 deaths per year and a global disease burden to climate change. An area that has received particular attention is the potential impact of global warming on shifts in the spatio-temporal distribution of disease vectors, and hence the frequency and transmission dynamics of vector-borne diseases. Vectors, pathogens ... Read more
Climatic hazards: Vulnerability and adaptation
Dr Moazzem Hossain It is now widely recognised that the coastal regions of the world would suffer severely both in economic and social fronts from the direct impact of global warming and rising sea level. It has been noticed that in recent years sea-level rise, frequent storms and cyclones, and riverbank erosion have taken a ... Read more
‘Climate change reshapes tropical forests’
bbc.co.uk Future climate change could change the profile of tropical forests, with possible consequences for carbon storage and biodiversity, a study says. It suggests that if current trends continued, the drier conditions would favour deciduous, canopy species at the expense of other trees. US researchers based their findings on the changes they recorded in a ... Read more
Managing biodiversity to slow down climate change
DR. M.A. BASHAR Adaptation is the habitual process of adjustment to a new or changing environment. These changes of environment could be negative or positive to the survivals in an ecosystem. Adaptive capability is the ability of a system to adjust to climate change to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to ... Read more
Water crisis to rice crisis in coming decades?
Dr. Aminul Islam Akanda Bangladesh is blessed with suitable soil and climate for growing rice in all three crop seasons in a year. Rice grown during summer is locally known as Aus, during monsoon as Aman and during winter as Boro. The Boro is really the improved rice variety that is cultivated in almost all ... Read more
Riparian vegetation: A corridor for environmental stability
Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman The word “riparian” is derived from the Latin word ‘Ripa’ (river bank).Vegetations bordering water bodies are technically known as riparian vegetations. These vegetations are also called riverine or gallery vegetations as they are grown adjacent to or near rivers. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called ... Read more
Assessing climate change impacts on floral diversity
Forest Mensuration Assessing climate change impacts on floral diversity Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman Forest Mensuration provides forest inventory, forest resource monitoring, measurement principles, stand structure parameters, different sampling methods and applications. It takes into account all the resources of a forest, including timber and non-timber vegetation parameters, natural regeneration, lesser vegetation, coarse woody debris, and ... Read more